Ayer DPW chief, selectmen discuss this season's snow removal

This is his first winter at the head of a municipal DPW department, having come from a civil-engineering background.

"It's been a good learning experience," said Wetzel. "I've taken a lot of mental notes."

While Wetzel commended the DPW laborers, "Our crew does a very good job -- they're dedicated," Wetzel also noted there are "things we need to work out."

Wetzel said the town-owned sidewalk plow had some issues over the last snowstorm. Still, residents and property owners are reminded that they are responsible to clear snow from sidewalks in front of their homes and businesses.

If the town sidewalk plow has historically skimmed the snow in front of your building, "you just got lucky," said Selectman Frank Maxant. "Just because the town sends a plow in no way minimizes your obligation to keep sidewalks clear."

Maxant said governmental entities must comply, too. The comment sparked a feisty response from Selectman Gary Luca, the postmaster for the Ayer post office, across from Ayer Town Hall.

"I'm actually the one that actually clears that area," said Luca.

"Good," said Maxant.

"And my plow guy does a great job," added Luca.

Selectman Pauline Conley asked about a downtown business owner who "descended" on the office of Town Administrator Robert Pontbriand following the last storm "and demanded we clear his sidewalk because, gee whiz, we've always done it.

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" Conley asked if downtown property owners have been reminded of their obligations to clear snow from sidewalks.

Pontbriand said Economic Development Director David Maher was contacting business owners to raise awareness of the snow removal obligations. "The town has historically and will continue to do snow removal downtown, but we want to emphasize that's not going to happen right way." During a storm, resources go towards clearing the roads first, said Pontbriand. In the meantime, "property owners are still responsible" for sidewalks. "Again, we need you to work with us. We need folks to understand that (town-performed sidewalk plowing) doesn't necessarily happen within a 24-hour period after a storm."

On Friday night, after the snow stopped flying, DPW crews worked late at night to remove snow from the downtown to clear parking spaces and sidewalk piles.

"It's a pretty big effort," said Wetzel.

With forecasts for temperatures in the 40s, "It will be melting this week, thank goodness," said Chairman Jim Fay.

"I've been saying this for four years now," said Luca. When Wetzel said crews suggested a negative impact on daytime traffic flow, Luca suggested "they did it once before and there was no problem."

"We can give it a try," said Wetzel, who said crews have suggested daytime work disrupts traffic. Conversely, Wetzel said "I was concerned about doing it on a Friday night with the restaurants" though that worked out fine. To get the word out on snow removal operations, Wetzel suggested, "We'll use message boards and social media next time, too."

Another major issue with recent snowstorms has been plowing private streets that have not yet been accepted as public ways by the town. On Old Groton Road between Washington and Pleasant Street, crews were historically told not to plow the short jog of pavement. This winter "I had a couple of irate calls, as did the selectmen's office so we plowed it," said Wetzel.

But the little stretch of road is "not open all the way through" due to the placement of do-not-enter signs at both ends of the short paved route. Also problematic is that parked cars along the private way conflict with the town's winter-parking ban on public ways.

"When I sent a crew up there with a 1-ton plow, he couldn't get all the way through without potentially damaging some vehicles so we had to do it with a loader," said Wetzel. "If we're plowing that on a regular basis, we'll have to have some cooperation from the residents to give us some room to get through there."

"Welcome to municipal snow removal," said Pontbriand with a laugh. Nonetheless, Pontbriand said their Ayer DPW crew has "historically done one of the best jobs in Worcester and Middlesex counties and when compared to some of the cities."

Pontbriand said the policy will be to "plow everything as we did last year. We know there are unaccepted streets but for the issue of public safety we need to plow everything."

Pontbriand said there is 3 miles of unaccepted roadway in Ayer, though Wetzel wondered if the figure is correct.

"For some, I'm not quite sure how they're not unaccepted. Groton School Road is a numbered road but is not accepted but it's listed with the state so I'm not sure what that means."

Fay suggested that the Planning Board be asked to prepare roads for approval by Town Meeting. Wetzel projected the work needed couldn't be done in time for May's annual Town Meeting, but could be ready for fall Town Meeting in October instead.

"Spring Town Meeting is not realistic," said Wetzel.

Fay suggested that residents living on unaccepted streets should be asked to sign waivers of liability to indemnify the town in the event the town plows damaged property while performing goodwill plowing on private ways. "We don't want to end up in court over plowing a road when we shouldn't have (been there) in the first place," said Fay.

Pontbriand sought board approval to work with town counsel, which was informally granted, to determine what steps are needed to move more roads onto the town map. The last legal estimate was for $1,800 in 2006. Pontbriand said "we should move in that direction....It benefits the town, the DPW, and the residents who live there."

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